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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23728597">Appetency</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/dlyt/pseuds/dlyt'>dlyt</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Forever Knight</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Companionship, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 23:21:30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,786</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23728597</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/dlyt/pseuds/dlyt</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Lucien LaCroix and Thomas Monroe compile a list of characteristics for the perfect fledgling.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lucien LaCroix &amp; Thomas Monroe, Lucien LaCroix/Original Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>2020 FKFicFest</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Appetency</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Acknowledgements: Thanks to PJ1228 for beta-reading and suggestions. I always learn something new! And thanks to BrightKnightie for another year of FKFicFest in the year of the Quarantine! This is one we will always remember.</p><p>Disclaimer: These Forever Knight characters do not belong to me. I am borrowing them for fanfiction purposes only. No profit, only fun!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p> </p><p>The young man in his arms leaned back against his chest, arching his neck invitingly in the dark corner of the club. It was time to decide: would he offer the ultimate gift to this one? Would he bind himself for eternity to a new child, or simply take his sustenance and go?</p><p>A quick nip behind the ear brought forth a welling of blood, which he lapped sensuously from the small wound. Blending feeding and foreplay, he placed blood-wet kisses down the side of the proffered neck as he fondled the more interesting attributes of the body yearning against his. The blood would guide him. Already he was getting a sense of the young man’s feelings, his hopes and dreams, his internal identity.</p><p>What he found disappointed but did not surprise him. The young one was hunting for a “sugar daddy,” an older man to possess, pamper, and provide for him. He was both willing and able to exchange sexual favors for such a “relationship.” He had recognized LaCroix’s search for companionship, and had found him attractive enough to make a play, and LaCroix had allowed himself to be flattered; he was not particularly angry when he discovered its insincerity.</p><p>Moving to an even more secluded spot, LaCroix accepted what the young man offered and took him, possessing him thoroughly, if fleetingly. With wicked skill, he left his erstwhile lover sincerely begging for more, yet too exhausted to pursue his desires. Delicately, LaCroix had sipped from him: a nip here, a small piercing there, always disguised as passion. In the end, the young one was no worse off than if he had donated to the Red Cross. LaCroix knew that this sort of feeding would create a desire for a repeat experience, which he would not provide. Leaving such an unfulfilled yearning was his own petty revenge for being treated as a mark.</p><p>He called for an Uber.</p><p>******</p><p>In the past he had sought out daughters before sons, perhaps to take his mortal daughter’s place in his affections, but perhaps because female companions were so much more, well, … companionable.</p><p>This time, however, he had decided to do things differently. He was seeking a son first. The hunt became all-consuming. LaCroix soon found he could meet no mortal man without imagining him transformed into his fledgling child.</p><p>At first, he had not realized he was hunting for a son. He thought he was seeking revenge against Nicholas’ god. Ultimately, he blamed Nicholas’ devotion to this god’s cult of salvation and redemption for leading him to his death.</p><p>In Toronto, when he found Nicholas weeping over the dying body of his mortal paramour, he vehemently rejected the idea that the two of them could join together in some <em>post mortem </em>utopia, and he refused to assist his son in his deluded search for such a destination. He had made his own plans to move on, and he saw no reason to change them.</p><p>For awhile it appeared that Nicholas would join him. He was “wrapping things up,” as he put it. Then one night when he awoke, there was a palpable void where the echo of his protégé had resided; Nicholas was dead.</p><p>With a cry of anguish he had returned immediately to Toronto, only to find that Enforcers had dealt the death penalty to his son, and that his son had welcomed it. It took no effort at all to discover that Nicholas had been betrayed. Danny, a young vampire of no important heritage, had sought revenge against Nicholas for some real or imagined slight. He had tried once before and failed, when he had alerted Enforcers to the existence of a videotape showing Nicholas in flight and other proof of vampirism. Nicholas had prevailed by ensuring the tape’s destruction and erasing the mortal memories related to it. This time Danny succeeded only because Nicholas refused to defend himself.</p><p>Somehow, Danny had gotten his hands on a sort of research journal kept by Dr. Natalie Lambert, medical examiner and Nicholas’ mortal paramour, and had turned it over to Enforcers. Unfortunately for Nicholas, it contained incontrovertible evidence that he had revealed himself to mortals in his quest to become one of them again. LaCroix could not bring himself to blame Dr. Lambert. She had merely been the latest tool in Nicholas’ quest to appease his god and achieve “salvation,” and, besides, she had already paid the ultimate penalty. Nicholas had consumed her.</p><p>The vampire who betrayed his son, however, was still quite within his reach. LaCroix moved quickly and decisively. Danny’s triumph was short-lived, and no one mourned or even seemed to notice his departure from the ranks of the undead.</p><p>For weeks afterwards, LaCroix haunted churchyards, rectories, and parsonages. What perfect revenge it would be against Nicholas’ god to take one of his dedicated servants and transform him into a creature of the night, remade by him in his own image! Slowly, though, he realized that he did not want to make a son out of a man of the cloth who could be led from the fold. He would only torment him, and that would grow tiresome quickly.</p><p>He wanted a brother, a comrade-at-arms, a right-hand man in the truest Roman sense of the word, one who would revel in their power and share in its sensual delights. He wanted a son with whom he could share his world.</p><p>He did not always seek alone. In London, LaCroix ran into his old friend, Thomas, and told him of his quest. Thomas responded by trying to talk him into bringing twins across.</p><p>“Just think of all the fun you could have with twins, LaCroix! Don’t you remember the pair, the boy and girl I had in, where were we, was it Napoli? No, Athens! Before you went off to Paris and found your Janette, remember?”</p><p>“Yes,” LaCroix chuckled, “and do you remember how we had to flee for our lives when the crowds discovered what they were? Whatever possessed you to offer them up as fortune tellers, anyway? The streets were filled with people looking for witches and charlatans. It was just a matter of time until they were discovered.”</p><p>“Ah, but that’s where I’d found them, remember? As part of a traveling troupe? It had been nearly a century since we’d tried anything like it, and they did beg me so prettily to let them.” Thomas smiled, looking somehow both wistful and salacious.</p><p>With a wry grin, LaCroix agreed, “I remember.” It was not the sort of thing one tended to forget.</p><p>Together they sought out suitable candidates, hunting discreetly. Thomas was distracted for a time by a female soldier, and considered taking her for himself until he discovered she had young children. That led to the creation of a list of requirements. First on the list: the candidate must have no significant social or close family attachments. Unmarried orphans were preferred.</p><p>Next, they considered some of the local gang members. They quickly rejected them and added more requirements to their growing list. Candidates must be capable of violence, loyalty, and obedience, but must not be blindly stupid. They also must have no criminal records. Electronic records of such things were terribly inconvenient to alter or erase.</p><p>As they traveled and considered candidates, the list grew. In Paris, they decided a candidate must be an interesting conversationalist, or entertaining in some fashion, and be passionate but not careless. In Barcelona, they decided that grace of movement was essential after pickpockets actually obtained both of their wallets undetected. If they could have found the offenders, they might have brought them across then and there, so impressed were they with this level of deceptive skill, but they never found them.</p><p>As the list grew, Thomas playfully accused LaCroix of building a wishlist for a dating app or at the least quite a set of requirements for a want ad.</p><p>“Wanted: male companion for extended travel and adventure. Must have no family obligations, enjoy travel and new experiences, be interesting, entertaining, deferential, loyal, obedient, intelligent, passionate, and graceful.” Thomas laughed at LaCroix’s scowl. “If you added, ‘Must be comfortable with death and blood and willing to trade soul for an eternity on the night shift,’ I wonder if you’d attract any candidates.”</p><p>They enjoyed debating which characteristics were most desirable. Thomas insisted that fledglings should physically resemble the master vampire so as to move easily in similar circles. LaCroix disagreed. “World populations are no longer quite as homogeneous as they once were. Different races can move together in most places now and being of different racial backgrounds can expand one’s social circles. Age is more important,” he continued, “He must be young enough to pass as my son, yet mature enough to have experienced independent manhood.”</p><p>Finally, they agreed that finding a candidate of indeterminate ancestry would open the most opportunities. They hunted well that night, sipping from many and building their strength for their travels. LaCroix planned to continue his search in New York, and Thomas had decided to visit Buenos Aires for a while. All of the hunting with LaCroix had made him eager to spend some time with his own fledgling who operated an import/export business there.</p><p>“Will you take some advice from an old friend?” Thomas asked as they parted.</p><p>LaCroix responded with a curiously raised eyebrow.</p><p>“Don’t make the requirements list so long that it is impossible to fill. Their imperfections are often what endear them to us.”</p><p>LaCroix nodded in acknowledgement, though his cold heart ached. If only he had foreseen Nicholas’ imperfections….</p><p>******</p><p>The Uber driver who answered LaCroix’s request for a ride from the club was a young man in his mid-20’s. He introduced himself as Colys Vela. LaCroix absently noted the beautiful light olive complexion and wavy dark hair, contrasted by striking slate grey eyes. He was lithe, having trained as a dancer in the City, and LaCroix found himself drawn into pleasant conversation as they traveled together.</p><p>“Do you live in the City, or commute,” LaCroix asked casually.</p><p>“Oh, I live in the City,” Colys replied. “My sister and I share a small apartment and this car. She’s a student this year at NYU,” he continued with a trace of pride. “She supported me for my degree, so now I’m supporting her. It’s just the two of us now. Our parents died a few years back.”</p><p>“Your sister,” LaCroix noted with some disappointment.</p><p>“Yes,” Colys responded happily. “She’s studying dance, just like me. You see, we’re twins, and we’re hoping to have a career together.</p><p>Colys never did understand why his passenger suddenly erupted in laughter, but he appreciated the generous tip at the end of the ride.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The title, Appetency, derives from the Latin appetentia, and means "1. a longing or desire; 2. a natural tendency or affinity."</p><p>In "Faithful Followers," Thomas Monroe claims to be at least 1600 years old, making him a fairly close peer to LaCroix.</p><p>This story was written in response to the prompt: Do Over. With the loss of his family, LaCroix seeks to choose a new set of companions, a "Do Over" of his previous choices of daughter and son.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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